Humans are the only species on earth blessed with the gift of CHOICE. While other species live at the mercy of instinct and genetic pre-programming, we get to choose.
Assuming you are currently human, you get to choose whether life happens to you or for you. If you choose to live your life with intention, you take the helm! Alternatively, when you let life happen to you, you leave life to CHANCE.
A prosperous and fulfilling life is lived by choice.
Of course, we are all still subject to chance to some degree no matter how intentionally we choose to live. We cherish chance when the outcome lands in our favor…but we curse it when it’s unfavorable, for the pain and inconvenience it tends to bring into our lives.
But this is where it gets interesting. The flow of chance – in its never-ending combination of up/down, good/bad, favorable/detrimental – creates an infinite circle where every chance event in life (and there will be many) always, ultimately, still brings us back to choice.
No matter how random an event, we choose our response. We get choice even when at the mercy of the uncontrollable. We may not necessarily notice this – or make a conscious choice to react a certain way – when things go our way because the positive inevitably takes care of itself, and we happily let it. But how about when things don’t go our way: how will we respond to the negative?
Will we choose to be the VICTIM or the VICTOR?
I’ve personally found that perception and preparation have made all the difference in my own life. I choose to perceive myself as a generally lucky person that occasionally gets hit with an unlucky break. I don’t dwell on the things that don’t go my way but instead embrace the fact that sometimes chance doesn’t fall in my favor no matter the amount of my planning and preparation.
One’s life is mostly a result of the choices made. But sometimes, even the most prepared and intentional (I count myself in this category, claiming planning as my super power!) still find himself on the receiving end of a negative outcome outside of his control (otherwise known as chance). But in choosing optimism, and confidence in my ability to handle any consequence, I’m still able to come out ahead. If not today, then tomorrow. That’s life, next!
Life is a combination of choice and chance..but mostly CHOICE!
– Gen Y Finance Guy